Now in their fifth season at the Edinburgh Fringe, The Showstoppers‘ team of six performers, three musicians and onstage director perform a unique musical each evening, based on audience suggestions. The show has received rave five-star reviews from Time Out and other publications but wasn’t to my taste.

I’ve now been twice to The Showstoppers and saw very different shows performed each time. The first time I saw the show, it appeared to lack the spontaneity that makes improvised comedy so amusing, with the story bearing little relation to the audience’s suggested location of Jurassic Park. For this reason, I assumed a script had been rehearsed in advance and incorrectly stated that the show was not improvised. The second performance, however, felt much more ad hoc. Whilst the humour – involving rather exaggerated characters and a lot of physical comedy – still didn’t generally appeal to me, it was clearly improvised, with an unplanned story evolving around the suggested location of a family planning clinic.

What I found most impressive on both occasions was the performers’ ability to take on the styles of many different musicals and plays, from Shrek to Chess to Hairspray. Perhaps my favourite such imitation was a Dirty Dancing-style routine, performed with such inexpert dance skill but huge performer bravado that it made me chuckle.

The quality of show seems to vary from night to night, but I would argue that this is understandable, and is the nature of improvisation. I’m glad I returned as the second performance seemed a much better reflection of the company and its ethos. Whilst The Showstoppers’ wild humour isn’t for me, I can see that the performers here are talented and their work is undoubtedly entertaining to many.

***3/5 stars

(You can read the original review of The Showstoppers here.) The Showstoppers is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until 26th August, for more information and tickets, see the Edinburgh Fringe website.